atheist quotes

[Edwardo Piet]

Thanks to all who have responded to my Orwellian quote.
To those who struggle with the concept of not liking what you are convinced doesn't exist, I refer you to RD's " God Delusion ", specifically his spectrum of probabilities concerning the existence of God. The spectrum has milestones from 1 to 7.
Milestone 1 represents 100% probability that God exists. At the other end milestone 7 represents 100% probability that God doesn't exist.
As rational people, I suspect very few ateists would put themselves in 7,
rather milestone 6 which represents a very low probability of God's existence albeit short of zero. Hope this helps.

TGD is my favourite book and I am well aware of the 7 milestones I am a 6 but very close to a seven like Dawkins since to ME..that seems the only reasonable position....

However since I believe it is so INCREDIBLY unlikely that god exists...I don't see how I can hate a being that I am almost entirely certain does not exist....for example; I don't hate vampires or count dracula because IF he exists he might have bitten a lot of people's necks that we don't know of....there are many many supernatural ideas besides the idea of god that just because you believe they're remotely possible that they not only could exist but they could be evil and therefore should be hated just as much as god....

God isn't any more likely than a vampire...

Futhermore IF god exists... IF he exists....just because we are in a bad world that doesn't mean its god's fault....they're no more reasons to believe that god is evil than to believe that vampires are evil....just because god exists (in this example) that doesn't mean he influences anything anymore than a vampire does.....and if he does influence stuff a lot....maybe this is the best he can do? How can you hate someone who is trying their best? that wouldn't be fair.....

Despite the fact that god is remotely possible....to me that still doesn't give enough reason to hate him.... despite the fact that there IS a small possibility... IF he exists that doesn't mean that the world is bad; because it might not be god's fault.....you wouldn't hate vampires because there's a remote possibility they killed a lot of people so why hate god if his possibility is so remote and he might just be incompetent rather than evil? etc etc etc.

Doesn't make any sense to me.

Most importantly and to conclude: My belief in god is SO remote that my hate is SO small that you might aswell say I don't hate him at all...don't even dislike him at all...aren't even disappointed at him...my hate of him is so remote that it's trillions of times milder than all three of these emotions of dislike. It's so close to non-existent hate...I don't conciciousley feel any hate of god at all and you might aswell say I don't hate him at all. It's the same as with vampires for example: my hate of the bad things that it is REMOTELY POSSIBLE that vampires have DELIBERATELY DONE is SO small I'm not aware of it at all and you might aswell say: I 'hate' god and vampires to such a tiny tiny tiny recurring extent that you might aswell say I don't hate or dislike them at all. That I don't even feel the remotest bit of disappointment in their actions...AT ALL...you might as well say that - because it's so close to being true...but if you want to know the real degree of my hatred towards god (or vampires for example) I've explained it here for you.

My hatred towards god is so small that it's as small as my hatred towards science because there's the incredibly incredibly incredibly (reccuring) small possibility that science is going to ultimately do more harm than faith.

I'd say my hatred towards the possibility of an evil god is as small as my hatred towards the possibility science ultimately being worse off in everyway than faith. Both these possibilites are almost infinitely small and therefore my hatred towards both of these possibilites are almost infinitely small.

---

I guess I am a zealout I need no further convincing that God does not exist and consider myself at milestone 7.I am 100 percent convinced that God is a myth.

So am I right in thinking that your arguments against god cannot be entirely based on recieved evidence then?

Whether you've recieved the evidence from a book or wherever.

There is no evidence to suggest that any evidence is gospel(confusing?)....there IS evidence to suggest that almost infintely certainly nothing can be proved 100% so how can you leave out ANY possibilites ENTIRELY?

[bozo]

Thanks to all who have responded to my Orwellian quote.
To those who struggle with the concept of not liking what you are convinced doesn't exist, I refer you to RD's " God Delusion ", specifically his spectrum of probabilities concerning the existence of God. The spectrum has milestones from 1 to 7.
Milestone 1 represents 100% probability that God exists. At the other end milestone 7 represents 100% probability that God doesn't exist.
As rational people, I suspect very few ateists would put themselves in 7,
rather milestone 6 which represents a very low probability of God's existence albeit short of zero. Hope this helps.

TGD is my favourite book and I am well aware of the 7 milestones I am a 6 but very close to a seven like Dawkins since to ME..that seems the only reasonable position....

However since I believe it is so INCREDIBLY unlikely that god exists...I don't see how I can hate a being that I am almost entirely certain does not exist....for example; I don't hate vampires or count dracula because IF he exists he might have bitten a lot of people's necks that we don't know of....there are many many supernatural ideas besides the idea of god that just because you believe they're remotely possible that they not only could exist but they could be evil and therefore should be hated just as much as god....

God isn't any more likely than a vampire...

Futhermore IF god exists... IF he exists....just because we are in a bad world that doesn't mean its god's fault....they're no more reasons to believe that god is evil than to believe that vampires are evil....just because god exists (in this example) that doesn't mean he influences anything anymore than a vampire does.....and if he does influence stuff a lot....maybe this is the best he can do? How can you hate someone who is trying their best? that wouldn't be fair.....

Despite the fact that god is remotely possible....to me that still doesn't give enough reason to hate him.... despite the fact that there IS a small possibility... IF he exists that doesn't mean that the world is bad; because it might not be god's fault.....you wouldn't hate vampires because there's a remote possibility they killed a lot of people so why hate god if his possibility is so remote and he might just be incompetent rather than evil? etc etc etc.

Doesn't make any sense to me.

Most importantly and to conclude: My belief in god is SO remote that my hate is SO small that you might aswell say I don't hate him at all...don't even dislike him at all...aren't even disappointed at him...my hate of him is so remote that it's trillions of times milder than all three of these emotions of dislike. It's so close to non-existent hate...I don't conciciousley feel any hate of god at all and you might aswell say I don't hate him at all. It's the same as with vampires for example: my hate of the bad things that it is REMOTELY POSSIBLE that vampires have DELIBERATELY DONE is SO small I'm not aware of it at all and you might aswell say: I 'hate' god and vampires to such a tiny tiny tiny recurring extent that you might aswell say I don't hate or dislike them at all. That I don't even feel the remotest bit of disappointment in their actions...AT ALL...you might as well say that - because it's so close to being true...but if you want to know the real degree of my hatred towards god (or vampires for example) I've explained it here for you.

My hatred towards god is so small that it's as small as my hatred towards science because there's the incredibly incredibly incredibly (reccuring) small possibility that science is going to ultimately do more harm than faith.

I'd say my hatred towards the possibility of an evil god is as small as my hatred towards the possibility science ultimately being worse off in everyway than faith. Both these possibilites are almost infinitely small and therefore my hatred towards both of these possibilites are almost infinitely small.

---

I guess I am a zealout I need no further convincing that God does not exist and consider myself at milestone 7.I am 100 percent convinced that God is a myth.

So am I right in thinking that your arguments against god cannot be entirely based on recieved evidence then?

Whether you've recieved the evidence from a book or wherever.

There is no evidence to suggest that any evidence is gospel(confusing?)....there IS evidence to suggest that almost infintely certainly nothing can be proved 100% so how can you leave out ANY possibilites ENTIRELY?

Unless I misunderstand Dawkins' milestones, he is not " close to a 7 " as you say, rather resolutely a 6.

Next, definitions. I am hoping Orwell was using " despise " not as another word for " hate " but rather " look down on with contempt " ( Chambers dictionary ).

The point is that if such a thing as the christian God exists, I would not be rushing to fall to the ground worshipping or praying for some miracle or other to happen! Rather I would be questionning him/she/it along the lines of how the poet Shelley described God in his epic poem " Queen Mab"

quote- God,Hell and Heaven.
A vengeful, pitiless, and almighty fiend,
Whose mercy is a nickname for the rage
of tameless tigers hungering for blood.
Hell, a red gulf of everlasting fire,
Where poisonous and undying worms prolong
Eternal misery to those hapless slaves
Whose life has been a penance for its crimes.
And Heaven, a meed for those who dare belie
Their human nature,quake,believe, and cringe
Before the mockeries of earthly power.

Couldn't put better myself!

[Edwardo Piet]

Unless I misunderstand Dawkins' milestones, he is not " close to a 7 " as you say, rather resolutely a 6.

Next, definitions. I am hoping Orwell was using " despise " not as another word for " hate " but rather " look down on with contempt " ( Chambers dictionary ).

The point is that if such a thing as the christian God exists, I would not be rushing to fall to the ground worshipping or praying for some miracle or other to happen! Rather I would be questionning him/she/it along the lines of how the poet Shelley described God in his epic poem " Queen Mab"

quote- God,Hell and Heaven.
A vengeful, pitiless, and almighty fiend,
Whose mercy is a nickname for the rage
of tameless tigers hungering for blood.
Hell, a red gulf of everlasting fire,
Where poisonous and undying worms prolong
Eternal misery to those hapless slaves
Whose life has been a penance for its crimes.
And Heaven, a meed for those who dare belie
Their human nature,quake,believe, and cringe
Before the mockeries of earthly power.

Couldn't put better myself!

I quote from TGD: "I count myself in category 6, but leaning towards 7 - I am agnostic only to the extent that i am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden."

So basically as I said...the possibility of God is so tiny that the amount I hate, dislike, get annoyed by, or 'despise' him is equally incredibly incredibly recurring tiny as his possibility....which is as tiny as the possibility of 'fairies at the bottom of the garden.'

This could be a misunderstanding....I DO dislike the 'IDEA' of God....but I don't DESPISE him because I can't despise something or someone that I am almost entirely certain does not exist. This is not emotional.....I dislike the idea of the universe coming to an end right this second....but there isn't really emotion attached to that.

The definition of 'despise' I understand is one of great hatred....

From the online dictionary for example: Despise: to regard with contempt, distaste, disgust, or disdain; scorn; loathe.

From merriam-webster dictionary: Despise: DESPISE may suggest an emotional response ranging from strong dislike to loathing.

And from my very own Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus: Dictionary: 'To look down on with contempt; scorn: he despises flattery. [c13:from OF despire, from L despicere to look down, from DE- + specere to look]...also though in the thesaurus: vb=look down on, abhor, contemn, deride, detest, disdain, disregard, flout, have a down on (inf.), loathe, neglect, revile, scorn, slight, spurn, undervalue.

All these words (and phrases) imply emotional dislike....especially the word loathe which is one of the word 'despise''s synonyms.

I dislike the idea of Hell...(AND heaven). But I don't despise heaven and hell because I don't believe they exist....

The amount I despise the idea of God, Satan, Heaven and Hell is so small that you can't call it despising... it's extremely extremely extremely recurring mild emotional dislike...IF it is even emotional AT ALL. It probably is to SOME SMALL extent because I think every thought carries some emotion; but because that emotion of dislike is SO small....you can't really call it despising, hating, loathing or scorning.

[bozo]

I've checked TGD and what you quote is correct. However, RD does seem to struggle with his own spectrum, since he starts the para. from which you quote by stating " I'd be surprised to meet many people in category 7 ".
My point is that NOBODY is justified to opt for 1 or 7. I don't accept it serves our cause to claim 7.
I leave it to the faith zealots to claim 1.

I hope we can agree on the sentiment anyway.

[Edwardo Piet]

I've checked TGD and what you quote is correct. However, RD does seem to struggle with his own spectrum, since he starts the para. from which you quote by stating " I'd be surprised to meet many people in category 7 ".
My point is that NOBODY is justified to opt for 1 or 7. I don't accept it serves our cause to claim 7.
I leave it to the faith zealots to claim 1.

I hope we can agree on the sentiment anyway.

He doesn't struggle with his spectrum he says he is a 6...but towards the end of a 6 and closer to a 7...he certainly is not a 7. He is still within 6.

[chatpilot]

God is a figment of mans imagination and if you step back and look at religion you will see that it was often used to explain things that in more ancient times were not knowable to mankind.

Poseidon: God of the sea
Thor: God of thunder
Zeus: God of Lightning
Eros: God of love aka cupid

Creationism:The explanation for how the universe came to be and the beginning of all things.The origin of life on this planet as we know it.
To me this is a cop out,sure science still does not have all the answers but it remains a work in progress.The quest for knowledge is more exciting than to have it spoon fed to you by religionists who cling to mythology for it's answers.

[Kyuuketsuki]

yep i would say that i am milestone 6. i can't seem to completely cross him off as a possibility. especially due to the big bang theory being weak at this time. really i am at that level simply because i am ignorant to anything else that could have caused the matter that created the universe.

We're talking about Dawkin's 1 to 7 scale of belief yeah?

Yeah ... I personally believe there is no god but don't care to advance that as any form of claim. Logically I continue to accept that it is possible (minuscule, smaller still) that some god creature might one day be shown to exist and so I can't quite claim to be a 7.

Kyu

[chatpilot]

I stated once before that I am a 7 on Dawkin's scale since I don't believe there is another choice other than science.Religion in my mind does not count since it is in all its forms relegated to the realm of myth.I can live with the fact that we dont know all the answers,but at the same time I refuse to look towards superstitions and mythological belief systems to explain the until now not completely explainable.

[leo-rcc]

My all time favorite:

I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence.
Albert Einstein

[Edwardo Piet]

I stated once before that I am a 7 on Dawkin's scale since I don't believe there is another choice other than science

Well scientifically, it is more incorrect to be a 7 than to be almost a 7 but extremely close that is to a 7 indeed.
If you choose 7 I think being around about more of a 6.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 recurring on the scale would be more correct. In order that you don't actually think you "KNOW" anything 100%.
Because indeed, God is possible, he's just an EXTREMELY remote possibility indeed - and that's according to the scienctific method. Because science understands you cannot disprove something. You can only rule things out scientifically. And prove things scientifically in an atleast somewhat De Facto sense. Science doesn't provide absolute proof. And it certainly doesn't provide absolute disproof...atleast we have no reason to "believe" that atleast for now. For now atleast, I understand that the correct understanding is almost certainly that nothing can be absolutely disproved, or even proved.